'Stop jamming the BBC'

2003-12-18 08:08

Beijing - British foreign office minister Bill Rammell said on Thursday he had requested China to stop jamming the BBC, especially in light of China's hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games.

"I raised continuing concerns about the jamming of the BBC," Rammell told reporters on the second day of his two-day visit to China.

The British national broadcaster's radio services, which also provide news in Chinese dialects, are constantly jammed and its website is blocked.

"I hope we can get an urgent resolution on this issue," Rammell said during an informal briefing.

"But I put it in the context that the development of the Olympics in 2008, (will put us) in a situation then where access to the internet is blocked and you've got thousands of international journalists in China.

"I think that would lead to very significant criticism that would unfairly represent the genuine progress that is being made in a number of areas," Rammell said he told China.

He said he suggested to Chinese officials that it would be helpful for representatives of the BBC's technical department to come to China and discuss the issue.

"China responded that it will consider the request," Rammell said.

Chinese officials who met Rammell would not admit China was jamming the broadcaster's radio services, said British ambassador to China Christopher Owen Hum.

"They speak in general terms about crowded frequencies," Hum said at the briefing. Chinese officials, however, do not deny blocking internet websites, he said.

Rammell could not say how a visit by technical staff from the BBC might resolve the situation, but he added: "Any discussion of dialogue on this issue, in whatever context, can only be helpful in trying to resolve it."

The ruling Communist Party keeps a tight rein over China's media, regularly muzzling it and ordering it to steer clear of controversial issues.

While allowing foreign press to report in China, it actively keeps Chinese people from accessing those reports.

Foreign news websites are regularly blocked and only a small number of foreign papers are allowed to be circulated in China, and only in upscale hotels.

Neither CNN nor the BBC's television service is freely available on China's regular airwaves.

- AFP